What is the difference between re.match(), re.search() and re.findall() methods in Python?

Python Server Side Programming Programming

re.match(), re.search() and re.findall() are methods of the Python module re.

The re.match() method

The re.match() method finds match if it occurs at start of the string. For example, calling match() on the string ‘TP Tutorials Point TP’ and looking for a pattern ‘TP’ will match.

Example

import re
result = re.match(r'TP', 'TP Tutorials Point TP')
print result.group(0)

Output

TP

The re.search() method

The re.search() method is similar to re.match() but it doesn’t limit us to find matches at the beginning of the string only.

Example

import re
result = re.search(r'Tutorials', 'TP Tutorials Point TP')
print result.group(0)

Output

Tutorials

The re.findall() method

The re.findall() helps to get a list of all matching patterns. It searches from start or end of the given string. If we use method findall to search for a pattern in a given string it will return all occurrences of the pattern. While searching a pattern, it is recommended to use re.findall() always, it works like re.search() and re.match() both.

Example

import re
result = re.search(r'TP', 'TP Tutorials Point TP')
print result.group()

Output

TP

Rajendra Dharmkar

Published on 11-Jan-2018 06:23:19

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